The Chorus wonders aloud about the origins of Oedipus. An old man is led in by Oedipus’ servants and identified as the herdsman, the man who gave the baby to the Corinthian messenger so many years ago: Oedipus insists on him revealing exactly what he knows. The messenger says that Oedipus is that same baby, who was abandoned by his father and mother - and the herdsman reacts with fear and begs the messenger to hold his tongue. Oedipus threatens the messenger with physical violence, and finally the man confesses that the baby was a child of Laius's house.
Oedipus asks if it was a slave's child or Laius's child, and the shepherd confesses that it was Laius's child - a child that Jocasta gave him to expose on the hillside because of a prophecy that he would kill his father. The shepherd says he didn't have the heart to kill the infant, so he took it to another country instead. “They will all come, / all come out clearly!” cries Oedipus. “Light of the sun, let me / look on you no more!” (1183-4). He has finally realized what has happened and all exit except the Chorus. The Chorus reflects on the mutable nature of human happiness - all happiness, they say, is only “a seeming” and “after that turning away” (1191-2). Nobody can ultimately escape fate.
